


Dearly Beloved

by Echo (Lyrecho)



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/F, Inspired by Nocturne: Rebirth, It's A Freeware Game Y'all Should Play It, Yes Beloved Zofia Is Meant To Be In The Character Tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-29 19:55:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20087875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Echo
Summary: Met with a loss she cannot comprehend and a grief she cannot face, Celica runs.She hides.She sleeps.When she wakes once more, it is to a world changed by time.|Tumblr||Twitter|





	Dearly Beloved

**Author's Note:**

> So. This AU.
> 
> Got the idea well and truly over a year ago, due to two things: I'd just started a replay of Nocturne: Rebirth, and Fallen Celica had just been announced for FEH. The two mixed inspiration into my mind almost immediately, and before I knew it I'd opened up a word doc, titled it 'vamp fell fayelica,' and started writing.
> 
> There's a lot more for this AU written, in broken, non-chronological snippets. Most of it - all of it, actually - was written, well. Over a year ago. Real life happened and the sparks of inspiration died.
> 
> Was getting kind of tired of the docs just sitting on my computer, though, so I decided I'd at least post this: the beginning, as enclosed as it can be, if with an ending open to your own interpretation as to what happens next. Maybe posting this will finally help me get reinvested in this AU. Maybe I'll never write for it again.
> 
> I just don't know, and that is why I'm marking this fic as complete, even though it technically, very much, isn't. I don't want to give you false hope for updates that could never come.
> 
> Just a fair warning, before you get into the fic proper.
> 
> Also! Nocturne: Rebirth is a freeware RPG maker game that's incredibly high quality and very unique, and I would rec it to pretty much anyone. Check it out!

When Celica awakes, it is to a world changed by time.

She breathes deep, and takes in the night air for the first time in...she isn't quite sure how long. Her sleep, she feels, may have stretched for longer than she had planned.

The forest around her is unfamiliar, but the chittering of wildlife is something that has never changed, to her memory, and the moon as always is a sliver of white carving into the purity of the navy sky.

It is a beautiful night, she thinks, except for one thing - the jeers of men echoing to her from a short distance away that shatter ambiance of the forest. She frowns, and strains her ears harder; not just men, she realises, but the fearful, angry gasps of a girl running for her life.

Jedah's voice echoes in her mind, reaching hands and laughter mere traumatic memories of a time and life long past, and her frown deepens.

Saving the life of a single human girl means nothing to her, and may even bring her more trouble down the line, but -

\- if there's one thing that hasn't changed, it's the fact that Celica despises uncouth, filthy, entitled _men_.

She's by the girl's side in the space between her heartbeats, loud enough that Celica can follow them with ease, and it says enough about the girl's panicked state of mind that she doesn't react at all to Celica seemingly melting out of her shadow.

The men rushing into the clearing, clearly drunk, seem to be thrown by the presence of a second girl, cloaked in a pure white vestment that gleams in the moonlight; lining of gold making the cloth worth more money than the lot of them would likely ever make or steal in their entire lives.

But, as is to be expected of men,_ human men,_ so weak and so stupid and believing themselves 'strong,' they quickly shook off any apprehension at her presence once they realised she was 'just a little girl.'

Celica smiles, careful not to show the sharp edge of fangs. _So stupid_.

The girl behind her is dressed well, and surprisingly neat. She doesn't seem to have been running for all that long, either - a moment of consideration, and Celica decides that she must have come from a village nearby.

So. Saving her might not be so much of a waste, after all. A village will have information, access to greater civilisation - and, most importantly, _prey_.

She's slept for longer than ever before, after all - she can feel it, deep in her soul. An emptiness, a dry tug running all through her body, like fish hooks buried into her veins. A gnaw, an ache.

_She's hungry._

She'd originally been planning to simply take her fill from the foul creatures parading as men jeering in front of her, but the girl seems to be blinking back into awareness as her blind panic leaves her, and playing the long game requires trust. A strange woman, showing up in a village after one of their daughters vanished? Mayhaps not immediately suspicious, but Celica's history with small towns leads her to know how paranoid they are about outsiders if said outsiders are not vouched for by a member of the community.

The girl behind her is a ticket to an easy recuperation, to recover much of her power she can feel is crippled by her long sleep. To punch that ticket, she need only do two things: keep her alive, and gain her trust.

Simple enough to do, she supposes, and steps fluidly out of the wild swing of a broken bottle one man flings her way. Blinking at the empty air his attack stumbles through, the man seems genuinely confused that he had missed, and Celica feels a brief, faint flicker of what might just be amusement.

She flexes one hand, and calls for Beloved Zofia to come to her aid - but the weight that settles in her grip is far lighter, and she frowns down at her diminished sword; once more the unforged golden dagger it had been when she was a child.

<strike>still only just human</strike>

She frowns. Her sword, her most precious companion, is just like her - wasted away by a long starvation.

Well. Even if _she_ cannot feed from these men, Beloved Zofia can more than drink her fill from them.

A flick of her wrist, and the man holding the broken bottle falls before he has the chance to scream. Beloved Zofia hums, and then she's upon the rest of the rabble. She moves rather stiffly compared to what she's used to - but the sword is as elegant as ever, and shines silver and red under the moonlight. Within minutes, all that is left in the clearing is Celica, the girl still breathing on her knees behind her, and the corpses of the men too foolish to run - not that they would have gotten far, had they thought to do so.

Taking a moment to take in the carnage, Celica looks over her shoulder at the girl dressed in wools and cotton - shades of warm brown, cream and pink, with her pale hair tied back in two braids that spoke of a lingering childishness to Celica.

_Naive_, she thinks. _Naive_, and _in__nocent_.

Easy prey. It's a wonder she managed to run from those men at all, radiating 'lost little lamb' as much as she does.

The girl blinks up at her, with amber eyes a shade or so warmer than her hair, and then - to Celica's confusion - smiles at her, like she isn't covered in blood; as if she hadn't just slaughtered a dozen men.

"Thank you," the girl says, voice only slightly shaky, and rises slowly to her feet. Celica stares, and wonders if all humans in this era have such a lack of self preservation, of _sense_, as the few she has encountered thus far. "For saving me - thank you."

Celica inclines her head, but does not offer the girl welcome. Her smile briefly falters, but it's only seconds later that she's all but skipping to Celica's side, so she does not think she has wounded the girl's pride overmuch.

"I'm Faye," she says. "Faye, of Ram."

"Ram," Celica repeats aloud, burning the name Faye into her mind, with her face and her scent. "Is this village nearby?"

Faye blinks, as if bewildered at the fact that Celica doesn't know the location of her village. The question in the girl's stare isn't one she is going to give an answer for, and eventually, clearing her throat, Faye nods.

"Yes," she says. "I shouldn't have gone so far from the village borders, especially so late at night, but well, I was armed, so I thought it'd be okay..." she laughs, just once, nervously, scratching at her cheek and avoiding meeting Celica's eyes, as if worried she will be judged harshly.

"You could not have known you would run into such men, or so many," Celica says. "But yes, if these were already your feelings, you should have listened to your intuition."

Faye shrinks back from her a little, but recovers quickly. "I know," she says firmly. "I won't be so stupid again."

Celica inclines her head. "See that you aren't," she says. "One as kind as me will not always be around to save you." In the back of her mind, mocking laughter rings out. Celica is many things, has _been_ many things - and kind is not one of them. Not for centuries, now, if she ever was.

"Right," Faye says, and after a moment's quiet pause, curiosity glimmers in her eyes. "Are you travelling?"

"Yes," Celica says, the lie coming easily. "I am a Priestess of Mila, and I am on a pilgrimage."

Yearning flickers across Faye's face, yet no confusion, so at least Celica knows Mila is still worshiped in this time.

"Weird to be travelling at night," Faye says - Celica would almost be worried, if not that her tone made it clear it was merely an observation, and nothing more. There was no suspicion in this village girl before her.

_Foolish._

"I was setting up camp. I heard the ruckus." Celica shakes her head. "You may well think of me as a blessing sent by Mila, that I was near in your time of need."

Faye laughs. "I don't think the Earth Mother would be paying much attention to the daughter of a sheepherder, but sure," she says. "You're the priestess here, after all." She falls silent, and sends Celica a searching look. "This might be presumptuous of me," she says, "But I don't really feel comfortable with just leaving you out here to spend the night in the woods - not after you saved my life. Would you mind coming back with me, to Ram?"

Celica pretends to consider it, but in truth, this was her goal all along. "I shall escort you," she declares, and Faye either doesn't pick up on the barbed insult beneath her words, or doesn't care, because she lights up like the sun.

"Great!" She says, and darts forward to take Celica's free hand - a startling move, and Celica feels human warmth on her skin for the first time in centuries, for the first time since long before she went to sleep, for the first time since Mae -

"Great," she echoes, hollow, and allows Faye of Ram to guide her to her home.


End file.
